


Turning Tides

by IrusuVA



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bees, Cool pirate moves?, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Heart-to-Heart, Lost relative, Pirates, Rated M for later Chapters, Romance, Swordfighting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:08:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26418463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrusuVA/pseuds/IrusuVA
Summary: After the disappearance at sea of Yang and Ruby's father, Taiyang Xiao Long, the girls take the family business to a new meaning. The girls become pirates and sail the waters of Remnant in search of their father. Yang's mother is a pirate captain of her own, and a fearsome one at that. If they have any hope of finding their father at this point, Yang's mother is their only option.But along the way they run into another fearsome set of pirates, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee.What will become of their meeting?
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Bumbleby - Relationship, Monochrome if you squint, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Snowbird if you squint, whiterose - Relationship
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. The Dragon's Fury

Sailing the seas of Remnant was a leisure - most of the people that were able to own boats were wealthy after all. But, that rule didn’t always apply to the other half. The other half that nobody talked about. The half that you hoped by the brother Gods you didn’t cross on your voyage. Most believed they were far from human or faunus at all. Some likened them more to dangerous creatures that lurked through the morning fog on the horizon’s edge. In reality, the pirates that sailed Remnant’s seas were no worse than the scam artists at the local tavern in Menagerie, the business owner that berated their employees… In some cases, you were better off being a pirate than a citizen.

But some people fall into the life of piracy whether they want to or not. Some are born into it, some stumble upon it while seeking hope and adventure, while others use it as a means to escape. But this path was a little more complicated and uncertain for one Yang Xiao Long and her sister Ruby Rose…

Dragon’s Fury - the aptly named ship of Captain Xiao Long - wasn’t an impressive ship. It was mediocre on a good day. The ship was inherited from her father’s belongings. It rarely received much usage until the past several months following his disappearance off the coast of Vale during a cargo ship job. The ship's upkeep wasn’t the best while it sat at the docks for months at a time - why bother when you’re taking others up on their job offers, right? Now, it wasn’t necessarily in disrepair, but it had certainly seen better days on the sea. Granted, Yang had been pushing the ship just as hard as her crew to get what she needed, and she wasn’t going to stop for anything.

\--- The Captain’s Cabin---

Wooden boards creaked under the pressure of crashing waves as the scratch of a quill ran over parchment. The gentle rocking motion of the sea shifted a half glass of rum on Captain Xiao Long’s dimly lit desk while she wrote out her nightly memoir. The flame barely kept itself alive, nearly flickering out on several occasions from the frigid wind of the sea that seeped into her cabin.

_‘This is it. The one-hundredth day at sea. We’ve been surviving off of passing ships for the last few months, but it feels like each one carries less and less.. Maybe it’s because we keep acquiring new people on nearly every run? Hard to say… but I think we’re close. We have to be, right? Ruby’s making me a little worried. I can tell when she’s putting on that fake smile. Like she’s trying not to worry me. I wouldn’t say she’s given up hope of finding dad, far from it. But… Something’s off.’_

A soft sigh passed over her lips while she reached to remove her black captain’s hat. Her deft fingers running over the frilled orange fabric that lay atop it as she placed it on the desk beside her. A hand slipped into her golden hair, letting the locks fall between her fingers as she combed through them. “Come on, Dad… Where are you?” She spoke exasperatedly, her tired lilac gaze turning toward the worn and marked map to her left, several circles crossed out with ‘x’s littered the canvas. At this point, she felt like she had crossed the sea a hundred times over. In reality, it was only a fraction of Remnant’s waters - they were massive.

The only thing she could manage to keep in her thoughts most nights was the probable whereabouts of her father. But her mother… Her mother wasn’t far behind Yang’s thoughts of her father tonight. Raven Branwen, the woman that ran out on them when they were just children, was now fabled to be a fearsome pirate captain of her own vessel. But it wasn’t just her skills at sea that managed her that title - she had something else special about her. It was rumored that she was able to find anyone she was close to and simply manage her way to them, as if by magic. Of course, Yang knew this wasn’t magic; it was no more magic than her own semblance. And that’s exactly what she needed her for. At this rate, if she was going to find her father she was running out of options, desperation was kicking in, her worry at a peak. Finding Raven was suddenly becoming paramount.

The hand that was previously tangled in her hair ran over the textured page as she tracked their path, her other grabbing hold of the room temperature glass of rum as it pressed to her lips, taking a small swig. If she were honest, rum wasn’t her first choice of drink, but it was the one most popular on the cargo ships they managed to board. She eyed one of the desk drawers to her lower right after that sip fouled her tongue. She did have a secret stash, hidden away from all the others, something that was far more palatable, but she’d save that for another time. She turned her attention back to the map for the time being, replacing the glass with a quiet clunk on the desk.

_‘If we keep sailing this direction, we’ll cross over into The Cauldron… That means we’ll have to run the ship up and around towards The Vytal Sea in Atlas. Hopefully, that’s not much colder this time of year. I -’_

A hurried knock at her cabin door interrupted her thoughts, bringing her to reflexively shove the book of her writings into a desk drawer.  
“Aye, hang on!” The words left her lips in a rushed manner as she locked the book away, placing the key inside of her breast coat pocket. 

However, the knocking didn’t cease, if anything it picked up the pace, though this time it was accompanied by a very familiar voice: her sister’s.

“Yan - Captain - you, ah, you need to come see this!” Ruby’s voice wasn’t quite panicked, but it was certainly wary of something.

Yang replaced her hat, standing from her desk and swinging the door open in just as much of a hurry as her sister was knocking. When she opened the door, Ruby’s attention was pulled towards the bow of the ship, her fist continuing the knocking motion until she realized, well, there was nothing there to knock upon. A nervous laugh left Ruby’s lips as she quickly retracted her hand, placing it to the back of her neck.

“What’s going on, sis? You never come to see me after lights out.” Yang’s interest was piqued with a raise of her brow as she attempted to peer past Ruby into the moonlit night, her hands squared on her hips in anticipation.

“Here, come look at this!” Ruby managed away from the door, walking towards the bow of the ship as she pulled out her spyglass from her hip. She cleaned the sea spray from the lens before handing it over to her sister. “I was up in the crow’s nest and I caught a glimpse of this huuuuge thing off the horizon. At first, I thought maybe it was a Grimm and then I thought, no, that was stupid and -” -Ruby shook her head, stopping herself from rambling- “Just... here, look.” She angled Yang towards the east, pointing her towards a large black mass in the distance. The only things that made it remotely visible were several small orange flickering lights and the bouncing of the broken moonlight from the sea. The ship may as well have been as black as the night itself, settled in the distance between a strait to the entrance of The Cauldron.

“Ruby, is that... is that a merchant ship?” Yang’s voice wavered with a mixture of incredulity and relief. She took the spyglass away from her eye for a moment to take an unaided glimpse into the distance.

Ruby nodded proudly, resting her hands behind her back as she rocked back on her heels with her signature smile. “Yep, I think so!” -She hummed happily- “Can I ring the bell this time, Yang? Pleeease? Come on!”

Yang passed the spyglass back to Ruby with a wide smile of her own, rolling her eyes at her sister as she set off towards the main deck in a hurry. The back tail of her red and gold jacket flowed behind her as it caught the wind from the sea. “Alright, just this once.” She spoke with a quiet chuckle of her own. _‘Thank the Gods… We were running really low on supplies.’_

Ruby made her way over to the bell as swiftly as she could, letting it ring out into the night, signaling for the crew to join them on the upper decks.


	2. The Shadows Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and Weiss escape the clutches of Winter Schnee after duping her father into paying a fake ransom.

“Will you follow me into the darkness?! Stay by my side and fight with me?!” A velvet, empowered voice from Blake Belladonna cut through the clashing of sabers. The heels of her boots clicked and scraped over the wooden floors of the ship quarters. The golden chains attached to her jacket rattled, glinting off the sparse candlelight of the cabin. _‘Hm, whatever happened to no fighting on the ship, Ms. Schnee?’_

Icy blue eyes tracked the movements of the raven-haired faunus only for her gaze to be pulled to another figure with hair as white as her own. Her voice began as an uncertain mumble in a deep moment of contemplation. Her family? Or someone who’s treated her better than her family ever did? “I - I…” -She shook her head, clearing her thoughts- “Yes, yes! Just get me out of here, already!” She pleaded.

Another set of blues met the heiress’ in a quick twitch of her head “Weiss, what are you doing?! Come home! Father - ” A yelp and sharp gasp interrupted the naval officer as she received a blow from the hilt of Blake’s sword to her abdomen. Weiss’ comment had left her open, distracted her just long enough for Blake to make a move. The strategic strike left her nearly breathless as she crumpled momentarily.

“Winter, Father doesn’t care! That’s why he sent you here in his place…” Weiss’ voice drifted off while she spoke, moving hastily around the room to avoid the fight between the pirate captain and her sister. “If he really wanted me home, he wouldn’t have sent me out on the ships in the first place! Let me make my own choice for once!”

A cocky smirk crossed over Blake’s face at her hit, making an agile vault over Winter’s desk, snatching the satchel of gold that was meant for Weiss’ ransom return and leaving her effects in a disaster simultaneously. She swiftly attached the bag to the golden sash around her hips. “Well then, come on, _princess._ ” She wasted no time hoisting Weiss over her shoulder by her waist, though the other woman’s frilled attire made it rather difficult to see.

“Hey! Wha - Put me down! I _can_ walk, you know!” Weiss fidgeted in Blake’s grasp as they made a hasty maneuver towards the door of the cabin.

_“Not a chance,_ ” chuckled out Blake.

“Weiss!” Winter’s voice called out as she scrambled back to her feet in a panic, chasing after them. Her voice was a terrifying bark of command. “Grab them! Don’t let them escape! Don’t hurt Weiss, but do whatever you must to the other one!”

As fast as Blake was, there were a lot of people on this ship, and Winter was no sloth herself. Her golden eyes darted around for an escape as she dodged the hands of men. _‘Too many people. Too far from the ship. Not sturdy enough.’_ She finally locked onto one of the masts, the pole swung at the perfect angle with a hook attached from their earlier boarding. _‘Yes! There!’_

Weiss was at the mercy of Blake here, and held onto the light blue scarf settled on her head while gripping onto the back of Captain Belladonna’s shawl. A set of hands managed to grab hold of the end layer of her ruffled skirt as they rounded the corner of the main mast. “Get off of me, you dunce!” There was a sound of fabric rip as the heiress lined up a kick to the man’s chest. The heel of her shoe colliding with him produced a loud grunt from the deckhand, releasing her and the section of fabric he managed as he fell back through the crowd.

The crew of Blake’s ship was scrambling in preparation to flee, making the arrangements while watching their captain expertly avoid the horde of crew on the Schnee vessel. Several readied the mast to sail, taking grip to ropes and the like. Others manned their stations on the main and gundeck below, readying the cannons. Yelling from across the way was heard as naval forces began boarding Blake’s own ship, _Shadow’s Edge_. The scraping of metal and the smell of gunpowder filled the air in the midst of the frenzy.

“Worthless! All of you!” Winter rushed to cut them off on the way back around only to be halted by the mass of her own crew, attempting to shove past them and force her way through. “Gods damn it, move!”

“Cut the ropes! Get ready for sail!” Blake called out over the ruckus, praying she could be heard at the very least by her fellow faunus crewmen. She vaulted effortlessly over the shoulder of one of the enemy forces only to leap from the shoulders of another as she watched the rope in question swing back towards her. “Hold on, Ms. Schnee!” She expertly grabbed hold of the newly loosened rope that had been attached to her own ship just moments ago.

Weiss would be lying if she said this wasn’t exhilarating to the fullest, but at the same time, being carried around like a sack of flour wasn’t the best feeling in the world. But nevertheless she did as Blake said and gripped her tighter with both arms. “I hope you know what you’re doing!”

“Me too!” Blake responded quickly, kicking off of the main mast’s support towards her own ship.

“ _What?!_ ” Weiss called out along with a cry of fear and panic as they swung away from Winter’s crew.

They were now dangling at least thirty feet over the sea from a frayed rope that looked like it was barely long enough to get them more than half way to Blake’s ship. And they were right - it wasn’t enough.

Once Blake had reached the end of the momentum from the rope, she leapt from it with as much speed as she could manage. _‘Shit! We’re not going to make it!’_ And with that millisecond of thought she grabbed hold of her passenger and tossed Weiss from her shoulder towards the edge of the ship. “Catch!”

”BlaaAAAAAKE!” The heiress flailed in the air while three of the men from Blake’s crew assembled to form a support system, the last practically dangling from his ankles over the ship's edge. Weiss securely landed in his arms, the small group ‘heave-hoing’ them back onto the ship. The heiress was stiff as a board until she locked eyes with the cocky crewman who proceeded to give her a flirtatious smirk and raise of his brow. Weiss simply rolled her eyes and let out a monotone “My hero… Now put me down!” She wrangled herself free from his grasp, smoothing out her clothing and looking over the edge for Blake. The remainder of the crew managed their way back to set sail as quickly as possible after disarming and tossing the remaining crew members from the Schnee ship overboard and into the unforgiving sea below.

After Blake had tossed the heiress to safety, she herself plummeted, her hair and shawl catching the wind as she fell. Thankfully, since the cannons had been opened up from the gundeck she had something to latch onto. But not before hearing the panic-inducing word “Fire!” from her master gunner. The faunus’ eyes widened, her feline ears pinned back in a momentary state of panic, as the sound of short fuses expired, the cannons fired directly towards her as she fell between the two ships.

Weiss’ attention pulled back to the main crew for the moment. “‘Fire?! No! Don’t fire, you idiots! What are you doing?!” The force from the blasts that followed her words practically rocked the ship. She blocked her ears a moment too late with a gasp of panic as she searched for Blake once again, who was nowhere to be found over the edge.

As the cannonballs rocketed towards her, she curled herself into a braced position, letting her semblance take over and leaving a shadow clone in its wake, practically flickering out of existence only to show up several feet in front of her original position. She desperately flailed to catch hold of one of the cannon barrels as she continued to plummet, eventually managing to land heavily on one with half her body with a loud huff. _‘Come on, Blake. You used to be so good at landing on your feet.’_ The crew members tending to that canon were not anything less than shocked when they saw their captain land. They held off their reload of the canon, simply peering out to watch as she leapt from cannon to cannon, using them as platforms to manage her way back up the side of the ship. With one last vocalization of exertion she threw herself up enough to catch hold of the railing of her ship on the far side of the main deck.

Weiss held her hand to her chest in relief once she caught sight of the captain, taking a breath “Gods, Blake! You really are reckless, you know that?”

Blake couldn’t help but hum a laugh as she hastily maneuvered her way back over to the heiress, watching the enemy ship to see if they retaliated as they sailed away from it as quickly as possible. “I got you over here safely, didn’t I? I’m not sure I would call that reckless. Sometimes we care a little more about our cargo…” A sly smirk washed over Blake’s lips as she leaned on the railing in anticipation. It was clear the Schnee ship had managed a bit of damage to their hull from their blast, but nothing that would make it impossible for them to return to port. The question at this point was _‘how stupidly brave are they?’_

Weiss couldn’t help but feel the heat rise to her cheeks at Blake’s comment. As fierce as Blake looked in her attire - the black corset and shawl, the latter that practically floated about her shoulders, combined with her sharp features - her whole persona screamed ‘unfriendly’. The Grimm skull that rested on her shoulder was certainly no help. _‘How’d she get that anyway? Don’t they just turn to ash? It’s probably fake.’_ “Yeah, well - Well, it was still reckless and you should be way more careful. Do you know how many people are relying on you?” Weiss crossed her arms with a ‘hmph’. 

Another coy chuckle left Blake, her attention unwavering from her task at hand. She watched on as Winter’s ship became more distant, the crew in complete disarray. She finally turned away from them once she assessed that they were no longer a threat. A glance from narrowed eyes caught Weiss’ as she spoke with a lighthearted tone. “And now you’re one of them, Ms. Schnee…” As she passed by Weiss to speak to her crew, she untied the satchel from her belt and raised it into the air, making her way back to her captain's quarters. “We’re in the clear! Great job. It seems we’ve acquired quite a few treasures today… Give your new _quartermaster_ a warm welcome, savvy?” A grin washed over her face as she retreated to the sound of her cheering crew, most of them hoisting Weiss upwards.

“What?! Blake?! Blake! Ah-!” Weiss flailed once more as she was hefted onto the shoulders of the crew. Finally settling herself, she peered over all of them. “Well… I guess this isn’t so bad.” She managed a small, stubborn smile as the crew paraded her around.

It seemed like night fell rather quickly after that. The crew stayed on the upper decks for most of the night, drinking and playing cards as they saw fit. Weiss managed to set herself back up in her previously ‘assigned’ cabin. She rested on her small bed with a sigh and began to contemplate her choices. Did she do the right thing? Of course not. _‘And Winter…’_ she thought with an exasperated sigh. But… Something about Blake drew her in. Even from their first meeting there was something about the faunus. Okay, sure, she kidnapped her for ransom, there was that… But she never treated her badly. If anything, she was almost treated better on Blake’s ship than her own previous cargo vessel. Eventually, however, these thoughts faded into the dark along with Weiss’ consciousness. 

Blake remained in her cabin until she tallied up their ‘earnings’ for the night. _‘Five thousand gold lien and… An ex-heiress.’_ -She hummed a quiet laugh to herself- _‘What is that girl thinking? Why would she leave a life of luxury to come live on a pirate ship of all places? I guess we’ll find out.’_ Blake gathered her effects from her desk and from the back of her chair shortly after, replacing them on her person. A cool breeze passed through her as the door opened, revealing the strait of The Cauldron. _‘Hardly anyone comes through here… It’s not safe for the average sailor. We should be secure between the rocks.’_ Blake gathered what little crew she needed to lower the main sails, leaving the ship at the mercy of the waves until morning.

**Author's Note:**

> So I've never actually written a fic before and this just seemed like a really fun idea for an AU!  
> I hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading! I'll try to update it as much as possible!
> 
> I've also produced art for this fic so you can see their outfits ^^ here: https://tinyurl.com/PirateAU and on Twitter @IrusuVA : https://tinyurl.com/TLTTAU


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